Alberta Election 2023 live: Smith, UCP to hold Calgary campaign rally; Notley to introduce first pieces of legislation

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What’s happening now

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Coming up at 7 p.m. 

Smith, UCP to hold campaign rally tonight in Calgary

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UCP Leader Danielle Smith will speak to supporters at a 7 p.m. campaign rally at the Grey Eagle Resort in Calgary. You can watch the live stream above.

Meanwhile, Brian Jean, UCP candidate for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, and Rebecca Schulz, UCP candidate for Calgary-Shaw, will make an announcement in Calgary at 11 a.m. this morning. You can watch that live stream here. 

Coming up at 10 a.m. 

Notley to introduce first pieces of legislation

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley is in Calgary Thursday morning to announce her first pieces of legislation and other critical priorities at a 10 a.m. press conference.

A live stream will be published to this page once available.

7 a.m. 

Letters To The Editor: Smith’s conflict of interest commendable

Wednesday

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Albertans break first-day advance voting record set in 2019 election

By Lisa Johnson 

Albertans are turning out early, breaking last election’s first-day voter turnout record in advance polls across the province.

According to Elections Alberta, 161,830 ballots were cast Tuesday. In the 2019 election, about 140,000 advance ballots were cast on the first day, with a total of 696,000 cast in five days. By 4 p.m. Wednesday, the total advance vote count hit 257,500.

Direct parking in front of the Lois Hole public library in west Edmonton was crammed just before 5 p.m. Tuesday as hives of voters buzzed in and out of that advance polling station, operating from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

One voting officer on hand noted the “lull” in her day as the short stream of electors waited just minutes to receive their ballots before privately filling in with black marker the bubble beside their chosen candidate’s name. There was a brief shuffle and wait as votes were then collected by the ballot box clerk operating the tabulator.

Advance voting runs until 8 p.m. Saturday.

Read the full story here

Wednesday

Doctors pen open letter about ‘collapsing’ Alberta emergency rooms

By Michael Rodriguez

“Our emergency departments are collapsing and front-line health-care workers have truly had enough. We cannot bear to watch our patients suffer any longer with no end in sight,” reads the letter signed by 190 ER doctors, shared with media via an Alberta NDP news release.

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The physicians blame government policy for destabilizing primary care, leaving 650,000 Albertans without a family doctor. They say the “future looks bleak” for family doctors in Alberta, pointing to 42 residency vacancies in the province going unfilled after the first round of matching this year.

“This is compared to British Columbia having just two spots unfilled and Saskatchewan having none,” they wrote.

The doctors also point to a lack of beds and critical labour shortages at hospitals, stating “signs of a capacity crisis are everywhere.” They noted wait times have skyrocketed, with some waiting up to 15 hours to see a doctor in the ER.

“These patients often become sicker while waiting. We worry about these patients every shift,” they wrote. “It is now common to have 40 to 50 people waiting to be seen by a doctor at any given time in any of our emergency waiting rooms. Frail, elderly patients languish on stretchers in hospital hallways. Patients with mental-health crises are housed in the emergency room, often for several days, while awaiting in-patient beds.”

Read the full story here 

1:30 p.m. 

NDP promise $10 per day child care by end of 2024

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Alberta’s NDP says if elected it will expand and accelerate the federal child care plan by bringing the average cost to $10 per day by the end of 2024.

The $3.8 billion federal funding deal aims to get to that benchmark by 2026.

The New Democrat’s costed fiscal plan puts $192 million towards child care in the first year, $390 million in the second year and $300 million in the third, including an ongoing commitment to funding before and after school programming, which isn’t included in the federal plan.

NDP candidate for Edmonton Whitemud Rakhi Pancholi said at a news conference Wednesday the UCP has failed to create the promised number of spaces under the deal, and it excludes thousands of families who use before and after school care.

“Parents don’t suddenly get to change their working hours once their kids go to school, and we need more childcare spaces to become available much sooner so that parents can stop paying for the UCP’s political games,” said Pancholi.

12:00 p.m. 

Pawlowski claims Smith call was to address his charges, not about politics

By Matthew Black

The Calgary street preacher at the centre of a call caught on video that raised questions about Danielle Smith interfering in the justice system said Wednesday the discussion was never about politics, as she had claimed, and only about the criminal charges he faced.

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Artur Pawlowski called a Wednesday news conference to “reveal the whole story” of his interactions with Smith in a reference to the video of a phone call between the two where she tells the pastor that she spoke with Crown prosecutors about COVID-related cases “almost weekly.”

“It was always about the charges,” he said of the call Wednesday. “From the very beginning I said I had nothing really else to say.”

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He went on to call Smith “a pathological liar” and cited she failed to follow through on a plan to grant amnesty to those facing charges related to pandemic health measures.

“This phone call was always about the same thing,” he said. “Where are you going to introduce what you promised the amnesty bill for people like me, and thousands of other Albertans?”

“When you’re elected. Tell the people the truth. That’s what I want.”

Read the full story here

11:30 a.m.

Danielle Smith ducks questions on recent controversies as UCP shows off proposed tax-reducing legislation

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UCP Leader Danielle Smith was evasive on questions about recent controversies on Wednesday as she showcased her party’s plans to limit tax increases if she wins Monday’s election.

During a news conference unveiling the proposal, titled the Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act — effectively a compilation of tax-cutting promises the party has made throughout the campaign — Smith did not answer questions about whether Lacombe-Ponoka candidate Jennifer Johnson would be permanently barred from joining the caucus. Johnson is under fire for comments she made comparing transgender youth in schools to putting feces in cookies; she’s since apologized.

After Smith announced last week that Johnson wouldn’t be part of the UCP caucus if she’s elected, she had an about-face, telling CTV “redemption” was possible for the embattled candidate. On Wednesday, Smith reiterated that Johnson would not sit as a member of the UCP if she’s elected but didn’t comment on the potential of Johnson working her way back into caucus.

“I’ve made it very clear that I’ve made the decision that she will not be sitting with our caucus should she be elected,” she said.

The UCP’s Lacombe-Ponoka constituency association advocated for Johnson in a now-deleted Facebook post that stated Johnson is still a UCP member in good standing, and talked about the “probability” that she will earn her way back into caucus.

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Read the full story here 

Everything you need to know before you vote

While there are plenty of promises and policies from the parties to wade through, it’s also important to brush up on voting information.

Before you cast your ballot, here’s what you need to know:

Who can vote?
Canadian citizens at least 18 years old who are residents of Alberta are eligible to vote.

Do I need to register?
Electors may register to vote online at www.voterlink.ab.ca until May 17, 2023, by contacting Elections Alberta or their local returning office before 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 20.

Electors can also register to vote at any advance voting location in Alberta or at their assigned voting place on Election Day.

Electors who are already registered to vote at their current address do not need to register again.

Do I need ID?
Voters are required to prove their identity and current address. There are several ways to do this, including:

• Providing one piece of government-issued photo ID, including the voter’s full name, current address, and a photo.
• Providing two pieces of ID, both containing the voter’s full name and one that lists their current physical address.
• Having another registered elector with identification that resides in their voting area vouch for them.
• Having an authorized signatory complete an attestation form.
• More than 50 different types of identification have been authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer to be used as identification to vote.